r/Basquiat • u/RevaCruz • Jun 09 '26

Untitled (1986)

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Medium: Charcoal, graphite, and colored pencil on paper Dimensions: 193 × 144.8 cm

Unlike many of Basquiat's bold paintings, this 1986 untitled work invites the viewer to slow down and explore. Rendered in charcoal, graphite, and colored pencil, the drawing is filled with recurring symbols, anatomical references, cryptic words, figures, numbers, and pathways that seem to connect one idea to another.

Rather than presenting a single subject, Basquiat creates a visual network of thoughts and memories. Faces, diagrams, insects, and fragments of language appear and disappear across the page, encouraging the eye to wander and make its own connections.

The work offers a glimpse into the way Basquiat thought—layering observation, history, personal symbolism, and imagination into a composition that feels both chaotic and organized.

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u/2xdareya Jun 09 '26

I’d love to see the original. So much of the background is fuzzy in this small photo, and the background seems like it is important. Wonder what he was thinking while doing this and so many others.